THE TV WATCH; The Unseen and Unexplained, Inching Closer to the Truth

By ALESSANDRA STANLEY

Published: February 7, 2007

Anyone who thinks it's a good sign that ''Lost'' is back has not spent enough time at the Web site of James Randi, a skeptical scholar of the pseudoscientific and the supernatural.

A fan recently posed this question online at randi.org: ''Is a fascination and increased belief in the supernatural a sign of social decline?''

The answer came as categorically as the words under the Magic 8-Ball: ''Yes. Absolutely.''

By itself, ''Lost'' may not be a harbinger of the decline of Western civilization. But alongside ''Heroes,'' as well as ''Medium,'' ''Ghost Whisperer'' and ''Raines,'' a new NBC drama that begins in March and stars Jeff Goldblum as a detective who solves murders by appearing to commune with dead victims, the collapse looks pretty darn nigh.

''Lost,'' on ABC tonight, is the most intriguing of all the series that traffic in the supernatural, mostly because it defies its own illogical reasoning. As the third season resumes after a three-month hiatus, nothing about the fate of the plane wreck survivors marooned on a paranormal island (or is it an archipelago?) makes much sense. But the real mystery of ''Lost'' is not the Dharma Initiative, the Others or why some characters are named after British philosophers (John Locke, Edmund Burke). It's whether the writers actually have a cohesive story line that ties together all the unexplained subplots.

''Lost'' is at heart a science-fiction thriller, while ''Heroes'' is more of a comic book, but both genres have a similar appeal: they provide an alternative society for those who don't fit comfortably into their own. (That is to say, smart, socially awkward adults and all 12-year-old boys.)

No matter how far-fetched and complicated that imaginary world may be, it is bound by its own intricate set of rules and customs, be it Quidditch regulations at Hogwarts; etiquette on Superman's native planet, Krypton; or military rank in ''Battlestar Galactica.''

On NBC's ''Heroes'' there is still very little information about the unseen force or forces that have left a group of seemingly ordinary people with supernatural powers, yet the show's own conventions are rigidly upheld. A clef-shaped symbol (a combination of two Japanese characters and/or a reference to the genetic code) appears regularly to mark renewed evidence of unnatural powers.

''Heroes,'' which, like ''Lost,'' has a large cast and plotlines that zigzag and splinter, is intentionally ZOWIE! and KAPOW! Isaac even paints his premonitory visions in the style of graphic novels. But the story unfolds at a more direct, almost methodical pace. On Monday viewers learned the identity of the biological father of Claire, the Texas cheerleader with a bizarre ability to heal instantly from any wound. Every episode appears to inch closer to an overarching explanation; the show's creator, Tim Kring, has hinted that he has no precise ending in sight.

''Lost'' has an even more improvisational feel, fitting for a show that was dreamed up as a fictional version of ''Survivor'' by Lloyd Braun, a top ABC executive while on vacation in Hawaii. (Disney fired Mr. Braun but kept the script.)

Many of the characters and plot twists are serendipitous add-ons. At the moment, the season is focused on Henry Gale/Benjamin Linus, the sinister and enigmatic leader of the Others, who seems to be conducting strange scientific experiments on a nearby island. The actor who plays Henry/Ben, Michael Emerson, was originally hired for three episodes, but was apparently held over by popular demand. Tonight's episode begins with Jack poised to remove a tumor from Henry/Ben's spine -- to stave off the execution of Kate and Sawyer.

The fans of these kinds of serialized thrillers are unusually passionate and devoted, carrying a clout not unlike that of anti-abortion activists -- their intensity is in some ways more powerful than their numbers. The writers of ''Lost'' say they pay close attention to Web sites and blogs devoted to the show, and sometimes adapt the script accordingly.

A reference to ''Our Mutual Friend'' surfaced at the end of the second season, a hint that the show's executive producers identify with Charles Dickens. Yet ''Lost'' seems less like a sprawling, serialized 19th-century novel than like ''American Idol'': the show's writers and producers are so responsive to public reaction that viewers may as well be voting characters on and off the island by phone and text message.

(''Heroes,'' on the other hand, seems most responsive to the demands of NBC's promotional department. Every new phase in the story comes with a coy slogan, from ''Save the Cheerleader'' and ''Are You on the List?'' to the latest, ''Who's Claire's Daddy?'')

Both serialized dramas appeal to younger audiences, but ''Heroes'' is especially popular with school-age children who enjoy the series's comic-book sensibility. (Unlike ''Lost,'' in which the only youngster, Walt, was kidnapped and is still missing, ''Heroes'' has one main character who is still in high school.) But its contemporary settings in New York, Mumbai, Texas and California allow for more real-world references. Nowadays, many dramas obliquely echo the public's disenchantment with their government after Abu Ghraib and the quagmire in Iraq.

So does ''Heroes.'' In a recent episode two Los Angeles police officers sought to interview a suspect whose supernatural power consisted of emitting deadly radiation from his pores. ''He's got one hour before Homeland Security sends him down the rabbit hole as a suspected terrorist,'' one officer says.

The other tartly replies, ''We both know he's not a terrorist.''

''Lost,'' set mostly on a hot, tropical island, has less opportunity to reflect contemporary political issues -- unless, of course, the errant polar bear stalking the castaways serves as a symbol of global warming.

Photos: The third season of ''Lost,'' with Josh Holloway and Evangeline Lilly, resumes tonight on ABC. (Photo by Mario Perez/ABC)(pg. E1); Claire (Hayden Panettiere), left, with her adoptive mother, Sandra Bennet (Ashley Crow), on ''Heroes.'' (Photo by Paul Drinkwater/NBC)(pg. E10)

Correction: February 8, 2007, Thursday
The TV Watch column yesterday, about the shows ''Lost'' and ''Heroes,'' referred imprecisely to the character Walt on ''Lost.'' While he is missing from the story, having left the island with his father at the end of last season, he is not still missing because of his kidnapping.